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Sunday, January 22, 2012

Quite

The last post was made in the wee hours of Sunday morning. Gene was in his recliner typing on his "ham" laptop. I was in my recliner cruising the net on the studio XPS. Being a child of the "age of the automobile" I prefer cruising over surfing. Besides, I drive better than I swim. Gene asked what service did we want to attend at church as he looked at the clock. Good grief it is past 3 AM. Guess we will aim for the 11 AM service. I had nothing to add except guess we had better get to bed.

I know some of you have heard the story of Gene's problem last summer hearing the alarm clock. He assured me the sound had diminished on old trusty. I suggested that possibly sleeping with earphones tuned to the local NPR station could be effecting the sound. Not to mention 70 year old ear drums. Being near his birthday, I decided to get him an alarm clock he could hear. It is named. You know if something is named one might need to be suspicious. But I threw caution to the wind and ordered the Sonic Boom with vibration option. If any of my old Litton buds read this, get your mind out of the gutter! I am a semi-changed woman.

So a few days later the innocent looking brown cardboard box arrives. I remove from the outer packing and on Sept. 4 present the now 71 year old sweetheart his gift, The Sonic Boom alarm clock with vibration option. Gene unwraps and this is what he finds.

It still looks innocent enough. So he tries it on the loudest setting. Immediately we both fall to the floor holding our ears. The Sonic Boom lived up to its name. Gene crawled to the dropped (incredibly durable plastic thing) and turned off the alarm. Next was to try a lower setting, like level really low. Ok, that could still possibly wake the next door neighbor from a nap in the back yard hammock, but it was not totally deafening. And unlike the loudest setting would not induce instant death due to heart failure. So now it is time to play, not play, check out the vibration device.

Laying the device on his desk, Gene advances the clock and the round disk begins flopping all over the desk top. Well, that's cute watching Gene attempting to catch the thing. Gene decides to place the vibration device under his pillow the first night. The vibration gave him a headache when it went off the next morning. Ok, let's do as suggested in the instructions and place the device between the mattress and box springs. That is much better for Gene and I am now awake to see him off to coffee with Rick or whatever. But this alarm clock is to be used only in extreme circumstances. Like when you do not go to bed till 3 AM.

The beautiful, quite sleep of a winter Sunday morning was rudely interrupted by our being vibrated out of bed. Even under the mattress this little round disc makes as much ruckus as a quarter in a motel bed. So much for quite!